Stevie Richards discusses WWE vs AEW, the 24/7 Championship and conspiracy theories (Exclusive) 

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SK: Wrestling to fitness seems like a natural progression, at least more so than technology. A lot of wrestlers do fitness programmes. I think it is amazing because it's great for former wrestlers, great for up-and-coming wrestlers and it's great for fans of the wrestlers.

Do you feel like you had to get that information out there and try to make everyone a bit healthier?

SR: That's a great question because the fitness programs came out of the necessity of obviously being on the road, not having access to a gym all the time, being in a hotel room, flights were delayed. On a more profound scale, injuries where I couldn't have a barbell or a dumbbell and the momentum on my joint injuries or I had to modify, I had to lessen the weight but I still needed some type of dynamic resistance with what I was doing.

The bands have been a big part of my work out even if they're just an accessory, I would go barbell, dumbbell, machine and then finish off like 100 reps of curls with the bands or something. I would just do burnouts. They would always be a part of it but, as I get older, body weight and bands, and things that are more rehab specific have become a big part of it.

The thing about fitness that I don't like, and that I had to get out of my head, I couldn't do it because of all the injuries, I will explain why. Most people that you see doing the fitness videos, most people you see that do, "Hey, here is my fitness programme," they are showing off almost impossible things, right? It can be inspiring but it's also intimidating.

With mine, I even hate even flexing my muscles. I don't like not wearing sleeves outside of the occasional podcast interview. [Stevie shows his lack of sleeves]

I don't care about selling to the guy that looks like John Cena who can deadlift 600lbs. Like you just said, I want the wrestling fan who has never worked out before. I want the person that's afraid to go to the gym and needs to be by themselves - but have somebody help them along. I want the mum that just had a baby and can't be at the gym, I want a kid like you that works in front of the computer all day, 12-16 hour days, weird hours so, at 2am, you can't go to the gym, a video's rendering so you can get a 15 minutes workout in.

It's 15 bucks for 12 weeks, 25 bucks for 16 weeks and the videos are around $12.99. Plus you get direct email support from me so you're essentially getting online personal training along with these. You're getting full support.

I get so much heat from my accountant because he's like, "You made these prohibitively affordable, not prohibitively expensive." I said, "I hope it'll make up in volume." It's been two years and he goes, "You're not getting the volume." I'm like, "Yeah, there's people out there, it will come along, don't worry."

I really don't like the fitness industry as a whole for a lot of reasons I don't like the wrestling industry and even the tech industry. It has a self-serving, "We're going to talk above your head, we're going to talk down to you," there's a condescending tone and it's more about the person creating the content than the people that are consuming it.

When you're selling a product or a service, we have to take the gravity in the fitness industry that these people have literally put their lives in our hands and also when someone buys my programme, they might have tried six other programs and are one step away from giving up on life. That's the gravity I take with that.

I may be overreacting but I'd rather that than they email me, and I go, "I'll get back to them in a couple of days," and then I find out, "Holy God, the person was really reaching out for help." I take that very, very seriously.

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NEXT: Stevie talks conspiracy theories!